Compassionate Justice
and Service Learning

Peggy Hahn
Associate in Ministry
Assistant to the Bishop
Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA
Rev. David Ellingson
Professor of Children, Youth & Family Studies
Director, Children, Youth & Family Center
Trinity Lutheran College
Mark Jackson
Professor & Chair of Children, Youth & Family Studies
Director, Center for Community Engagement
Trinity Lutheran College

Compassionate Justice
Rev. David Ellingson
Professor of Children, Youth & Family Studies
Director, Children, Youth & Family Center
Trinity Lutheran College

Why? 1. Human need
hunger, homelessness , illiteracy,
effects of violence , etc.

Why? 2. Divine mandate
Luke 4: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …”
1 John 4:19: “We love because God first loved us …”

Relief Development
Advocacy/Justice

Relief Development
Advocacy/Justice

Relief Development
Advocacy/Justice

Example: Hunger
Relief:
- Feeding program
- Matthew 14:15-21
(Feeding of the 5000)
- Proverb: Give a person
a fish.

Example: Hunger
Development:
- Developing a fish farm
- John 21:6 (Throw net on
other side of boat)
- Proverb: Teach to fish.

Example: Hunger
Advocacy/Justice:
- Local fish food co-op
- Luke 4 (The Spirit of the
Lord …)
- Proverb: Share in owner-
ship of the fishing
business.

Example: “An even
better Samaritan”
Relief:
- Bandage wounds
- Transport to a safe place
- Provide for care at the inn

Example: “An even
better Samaritan”
Development:
- Build aid stations
- Train paramedic teams
- Plan for a hospital

Example: “An even
better Samaritan”
Advocacy/Justice:
- Create the Jericho Road Improvement
Association to address issues of road
conditions, safety, poverty, hunger, violence
and develop public policies and funding to
make systemic changes

Example: New Orleans
Relief:
- Read to a child
- Donate to Habitat
- Feed a family

Example: New Orleans
Development:
- Teach child to read
- Help family create a
garden
- Join family in building
Habitat home

Example: New Orleans
Advocacy/Justice:
- Fix and fund good
education
- Grow neighborhood
garden
- Provide low interest
home loans

Service Learning Process
Mark Jackson
Professor & Chair of Children, Youth & Family Studies
Director, Center for Community Engagement
Trinity Lutheran College

Volunteers gather in the Ninth Ward during
the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans

What is Service Learning?
An intentional process for
creating service experiences
with deeper meaning and
lasting impact.

Step 1 - Preparation
The usual:
- Fundraising
- Gathering paperwork
- Gathering supplies
- Making travel arrangements
- Packing up / getting ready

Step 1 - Preparation
Don’t forget about:
- Community building
- Bible study
- Learning about the context
- Commissioning service
- Sharing expectations

Step 2 - Action
- Meaningful orientation
- Learn about people, an organization,
a community
- Receive blessings in return
- Begin the reflection process

Step 3 - Reflection
- Begin reflection on-site
- Group reflection
- Individual reflection
- Invite creativity!

Step 3 - Reflection
- paint a picture
- compose music
- produce a video
- capture photographs
- compile a scrapbook
- make a flyer
- create a blog
- stage a debate
- write a story
- create a role play
- lead a workshop

Step 4 - Celebration
- Being welcomed home
- Continued reflection
- Telling the stories to others
- Evaluate the experience
- Consider other service opportunities

Key elements of
service learning:
- Be intentional in your planning
- Prepare well
- Allow adequate time for reflection
- Think beyond “project” or “event”

Practicing Justice – in New
Orleans and at Home
Peggy Hahn
Associate in Ministry
Assistant to the Bishop
Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA

So, just exactly
why and how
do we figure
out all the
service projects
for over 32,000
people?

THE PROCESS:
Preparation
Listening deeply
Action
Joining local organizations and leaders
in what they are doing
Reflection
Noticing the movement of God
Celebration
Maximizing the gifts of high school
students and adult mentors

Tune In
to your neighborhood
•Deep listening
•Assessing gifts & passions
•Creating partnerships

Tune In
•Deep listening
If we are
serious about
accompanying
our neighbor,
we start with
deep listening.

Deep listening means we
watch our listening filters so
we really hear what
is being communicated.
We suspend our judgment.
We lead with questions.

We notice what God is already doing.

We can’t do
everything, but we
can do something!
What are our
passions and gifts?
Tune In
•Assessing gifts & passions

We are honest about the gifts we bring – our own
skills, commitment and growth potential.

Tune In
to your
neighborhood
•Creating partnerships

We create an action plan that includes local leaders – we
don’t rush in trying to fix – rather we join what is already
going on, working side by side with others.

Accompaniment

Accompaniment describes the way God walks with us,
and the way our church therefore walks and works
among Christian communities in other places and
countries. Together we participate in God’s reconciling
mission.
Accompaniment is both a lens for seeing the world
and a way to engage one another in mission. Through
the lens of accompaniment, we see that relationships
are at the core of mission. This is a new theology.

When is
helping
not
so
helpful?

“True compassion is more than
flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes
to see that an edifice which
produces beggars needs
restructuring.”
- The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where do you start? Think about …
• Local – in your own neighborhood
• Domestic – in our country
• Global – in our world

Our neighborhood (Local)
Our country (Domestic)
Our world (Global)

Liminal Space:
A threshold or thin
place where God
seems near
enough to touch

To live with them among God’s faithful people,
To bring them to the word of God and the holy supper,
To teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments, to
place in their hands the holy scriptures, and nurture them in the faith and
prayer, SO THAT
Your children may learn to trust God,
Proclaim Christ through word and deed,
Care for others and the world God made,
And work for justice and peace.
- Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Suggested Resources

www.sallt.org
Service learning resources,
links, and videos
For a FREE copy of a training DVD,
email cyfcenter@tlc.edu

www.elca.org/globalmission
Under “Quick Links,” click
“Resources for global engagement”

Service and Learning:
A Way of Life
Five session DVD
with Leader’s Guide
Presenters: Peggy Hahn,
Sunitha Mortha, Marcia Bunge,
Dave Ellingson, Mark Jackson,
Linda Staats, Eugene Roehlkepartain
www.selectlearning.org